This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A percussion instrument such as a drum includes a top side or batter head seated on an upper end of a shell body with an upper hoop and a bottom side or resonant head seated on a lower end of the shell body with a lower hoop. The upper and lower hoops are secured to the shell body with upper and lower tension rods threaded into tension posts attached to the side of the shell body. The tension rods are also used to adjust the pitch and tonal character of the drum.
A drum may be provided with a snare for producing a sharp staccato sound when the head of the drum is struck. The snare includes a rattle element of wires, cables or gut strings that can be brought into contact with a head of a drum, typically the resonant head. A strainer assembly includes a strainer or snare side plate and a butt side plate secured to opposite sides of the shell body and is used to attach the snare to the drum. The snare side plate typically includes a throw-off mechanism for engaging and disengaging contact between the snare and the snare head. The snare side plate may also include a mechanism for adjusting the tension in the snare, which affects the tone of the snare.
In some set-ups, the rattle element of the snare extends over the edge of the shell body. In these set-ups, the interface between a portion of the shell body edge, also called the bearing edge, and the snare can significantly affect the tone of the snare. Conventional percussion instruments have a stationary horizontal edge, typically formed on the strainer plate and butt plate castings, which are fixed at a predetermined position, and do not permit precise set-up of the bearing edge/snare wire interface for further adjusting the pitch and tonal character of the drum.
Sympathetic vibration is a persistent issue that percussionists deal with on a regular basis. When a drum is struck multitudes of competing sympathetic vibrations are generated that will act to detune the drum heads and the strainer assembly. The tensioning mechanism in conventional designs tends to lose snare tension and thus detune as a result of the sympathetic vibrations generated when the drum is played. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a snare strainer system configured to precisely set and maintain the tension of the snare without any significant detuning due to sympathetic vibrations.
In addition, it is desirable to provide a strainer system configured to easily control the amount of snare contact with the bearing edge of the shell body. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.